"I Am the Resurrection and the Life"

1905

April 9 — Sunday School Lesson

GOLDEN TEXT. — Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. — John 11:25.

Introduction. So far as we can arrange the story of Christ's life from the various Gospels, the events are as follows:

The Feast of Tabernacles, October 11-18, A. D. 29, where took place the events recorded in John 7 to 10:21, ending with the parable of the good shepherd (John 10:21).

Interval of About Two Months between John 10:21 and 22, recorded in Luke 9:51-10:42. Jesus went from the Feast of Tabernacles to Galilee, and soon after left there, proceeding eastward to Perea, and thence down the Jordan on the eastern side.

The Feast of Dedication, December 20-27, A. D. 29. Jesus goes up to this feast (John 10:22,23), is a guest of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus at Bethany (Luke 10:38-42), Mary choosing the good part which shall not be taken from her. During the day Jesus discoursed in Solomon's porch of the Temple (John 10:22-39).

Returns to Perea. Beyond Jordan (John 10:40-42). December, A. D. 29. Here he spends January (A. D. 30) and part of February, speaking the Parables and Discourses recorded in Luke 14:1-17:10. Here we find him at the beginning of to-day's lesson.

I. "Twin Scenes — Lazarus Sick at Bethany. Jesus Busy at Bethabara."

We may, perhaps, make this supreme miracle of Jesus more real and vivid by picturing before our minds the contrasted but related scenes at Bethany and Bethabara.

1. At Bethany on the Mount of Olives, two miles from Jerusalem, lived a family of three members, Martha and Mary and Lazarus, who was, probably, the youngest of the three. Lazarus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Eleazar. The village is now known as El-Azarieh, or Lazarieh, from the Lazarus of to-day's lesson.

Not more than five or six weeks before this, at the Feast of Dedication, Jesus was their guest, and Mary sat at his feet to learn, while Martha was busy with her household duties for his entertainment (Luke 10:38-42).

After Jesus left, Lazarus was taken sick, "it may be by one of the sudden, sharp, and frequently fatal fevers of Palestine," such as that from which Jesus delivered Peter's wife's mother, and it is implied that the assault had assumed an alarming form.

2. At Bethabara, a day's journey beyond Jordan, twenty-five to thirty miles distant, near the scene where Jesus had begun his ministry now so near its end, where he was baptized, and had gained his first disciples. Little time remained and every moment of it was precious for his work. So here he was teaching, preaching, working miracles, giving his last counsels, training his disciples.

II. "Twin Scenes — A Messenger on the Way to Jesus. Lazarus Dying at Bethany."

1. The Messenger. The first thought of the sisters, when all common means failed, was to send a message to Jesus that "He whom thou lovest is sick." No request was made. The message was itself a prayer. They knew that Jesus would do the best thing possible. When we or our loved ones are sick, we should go to Jesus with our trouble; not to the neglect of means, for whatever helps and cures is the gift of God's love, but for guidance, and help, and blessing.

2. Lazarus Dies at Bethany. Soon after the messenger had gone, Lazarus died, and, as usual, on account of the climate, was buried on the same day in the family tomb outside of the village, and a large stone was rolled against the entrance.

III. "Twin Scenes — The Mourning at Bethany. Jesus Remains Two Days Longer at Bethabara."

1. At Bethany. Jesus could have reached Bethany in two days after the messenger left. The two days' delay beyond this time must have been full of anxiety and trial of faith and love, on account of the mysterious delay.

2. At Bethabara (vs. 3-16). After the messenger had reached Jesus, he waited two days before he started for Bethany. We must remember (1) that Jesus had been driven away from Jerusalem, and it was running into the jaws of death to go back there; (2) that Jesus loved the Bethany family and greatly desired to help them. Jesus states that the reason for the sickness was "for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby." Therefore he abode two days longer in the place where be was.

The Mysterious Delay. (1) It may have been necessary in order to complete some work in which he was engaged; and it was to the glory of God and his Son that he should place duty before all considerations of personal feeling. The brightest stars in the crown of some of the greatest characters, stars which shine down the ages when almost all else is forgotten, are the deeds of duty and patriotism at the cost of help for one nearest and dearest. (2) "This delay was necessary to the consummation of the miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus in such form as to forever prohibit the impression that death had not really taken place." — Abbott. (3) It was needed to develop and increase the faith and love of the Bethany family and his disciples, and give them a vision of the future life and their Savior's power, such as can be seen only from the mountain-top of sorrow. (4) It would lead many to believe on Jesus, and thus glorify the Son (v. 45). (5) Jesus himself was soon to lie three days in the grave; if, therefore, he was able to raise up Lazarus after four days' burial, they would have stronger faith in the resurrection of Jesus from his three days' burial. (6) It has been to the glory of the Son of God, in that it has shown to all generations that Jesus is the resurrection and the life.

IV. "Twin Scenes (vs. 17-37) — The Meeting of Jesus with Martha. The Meeting with Mary."

1. Bethany. The Meeting with Martha. The house at Bethany was full of sympathizing friends. Word came quietly to Martha that Jesus was near the town, and she immediately went out to meet him. She greeted him with the words, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." There were two sorrows, that her brother had died and that Jesus delayed his coming. Yet the words imply faith and hope, not complaint.

2. The Meeting with Mary. Martha returns to the house and secretly says to Mary, "The Master is come and calleth for thee." This loving message is sent to each one of us, in many ways. Let us open our ears and hearts to it as Mary did. She went to Jesus, (v. 32) "fell down at his feet," and spoke the same words as those with which her sister had greeted Jesus. The thought must have been continually in their minds, and often repeated to one another, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."

33. "When Jesus therefore saw her weeping." Like the maidens in Tennyson's "Princess," "She must weep or she will die." "He groaned in the spirit." Groaned, not in outward expression, but in his inmost soul. "And was troubled." The word means to agitate, to disquiet, as the waters of the sea in a storm. "His whole frame shuddered. A storm of wrath seemed to sweep over him."

35. "Jesus wept." Shed tears, wept silently, an entirely different word from the "weep" and "weeping" of the mourners in vs. 31,33. It is well that this short sentence should be in a verse by itself, the shortest verse in the Bible, but one of the most blessed.

36. "Then (therefore) said (imperfect, kept saying) * * * Behold how he loved him!" The word for "love" is the more passionate word used in v. 3 by the sisters, not the higher word used of Jesus in v. 5 by the Evangelist, laying emphasis on friendship.

37. "Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind." This was the last, most widely known, and most marvelous miracle which had been wrought in Jerusalem only two or three months before. The inference was natural and just.

V. Lazarus Restored to Life. — Vs. 38-45.

38. "Cometh to the grave. R.V., 'tomb.' It was a cave. And a stone lay upon it." 39. "He hath been dead four days," and, therefore, Martha inferred naturally that decay had begun. It is not stated as a fact.

40. "Said I not unto thee." He had, doubtless, repeated to Martha what he had said to his disciples (v. 4). "If thou wouldest believe." Trust in the goodness, and power, and promises of Jesus, not in any definite work to be accomplished. Such must be our faith. But her faith was necessary to the blessing. "See the glory of God." They would see a work of God which would manifest his power and love to men, which would exalt his Son as the Messiah, and bring divine blessings to the family, to his disciples, and to the world.

41. "Jesus lifted up his eyes." A natural, simple, but expressive act of worship. "And said, Father, I thank thee." Is not the address recorded in these verses simply a thanksgiving spoken in respect of a previously offered private prayer?

42. "And I knew that thou hearest me always." He was never denied, for he always prayed in the right spirit, with the right motives, and in perfect sympathy with the will of his Father. "Because of the people which stand by I said it." So that they would know that his power was from God, and recognize his relation to God.

43. "He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth." As one would speak loud to awaken a sleeper. It was loud in order that all the people who had come to the tomb might realize whence the power came.

44. "And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes." "It was the Jewish custom to wrap the dead comparatively loosely in a winding sheet or shroud, which would have impeded, through not prevented, arising and walking." — Abbott. "Loose him, and let him go."

The Consequences. 45. "Many * * * believed on him." (1) Lazarus henceforth was a perpetual sermon on the loving power of Christ. (2) The rulers from that day forth planned to put him to death. (3) Jesus left Jerusalem for a time and was concealed in the wilderness with his disciples.